Burned Alive: a Victim of the Law of Men by Souad, in collaboration with Marie-Therese Cuny, Warner Books, 2003 By Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO — The author’s name is not “Souad” and her address “lives in Europe” is purposely generalized. The people who tried to kill her once would try again if they could. Souad […]
Nearly murdered woman suffered life of torture Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—Perhaps if the late Yiddish novelist Chava Rosenfarb had lived to see how many people crowded the Seuss Room at UCSD’s Geisel Library to hear a discussion about The Tree of Life, her trilogy about life in the Lodz ghetto, the depression she felt over the fate of the Yiddish
Yiddish writer Rosenfarb’s works and life examined Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, San Diego CountyLONDON — “The only thing predictable about Jonah is his unpredictability,” says Ben, the narrator in Jem Lester’s debut novel “Shtum.” As he cautiously monitors Jonah, his profoundly autistic son, sitting in the back of a car Ben knows even a mere detour has the potential to cause Jonah anxiety and Ben “untold stress.” “Shtum”
‘Shtum’: A family deals with autism Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Science, Medicine, & EducationWhen I met Françoise Gilot in London in 1968, she seemed impressively confident and highly articulate. Two things she said stick in my memory. One of her regular chores while living with Picasso, she recalled, was to get him out of bed every day around noon. Each time he was reluctant to begin a new
‘Lions mate with lions’ examines life of Francoise Gilot Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & EducationA copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales once owned by Anne and Margot Frank, their names inscribed atop the title page, sold at auction Thursday for $62,500 (including the buyer’s premium). The New York City–based Swann Auction Galleries said that “the sale represents the first major offering of Anne Frank material at auction in over two
Where Anne Frank’s ‘Grimm’s Fairy Tales’ Will Go Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History
By William Booth May 7 at 12:37 PM Follow @boothwilliam HEBRON, West Bank — Arriving aboard a tour bus, accompanied by a former Israeli machine-gunner turned human rights activist, an international delegation of pretty famous…
Novelist Chabon leads writers on West Bank tour Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Middle EastThey say you can’t go home again, but that’s exactly what Betsy Lerner did… albeit reluctantly. Decades after leaving Connecticut for college, the literary agent and author found herself back in her native New Haven, living near her mother — something she swore would never happen again. Being in such close proximity to her widowed
‘Bridge Ladies’ spans mothers, daughters, cards Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories
Questions for Letty Cottin Pogrebin Letty Cottin Pogrebin says she is interested in “probing the many ways there are to be Jewish in America.” Photo by Mike Lovett Writer Letty Cottin Pogrebin said she grew up in a “very left-wing family” in Jamaica, Queens, and “it was not blacks that bothered anybody; it was non-Jews.”
Pogrebin tells of her Jewish life, beliefs Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, USAAs the world marks the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Monday tweeted that he too, is a fan of The Bard, and highlighted “The Merchant of Venice” — famous for its derogatory depiction of Jewish moneylender Shylock — as being in “accordance with Western values.” “I have read
Khamenei lauds ‘Merchant of Venice’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Middle East, Theatre, Film & BroadcastBy Stanley Tiger SAN DIEGO –Passover in the 21st Century presents Jewish people with new dilemmas unimagined in previous eras: Should I have regular white flour matzah, whole wheat matzah, egg matzah, any of the flavored matzahs, and more recently “gluten free matzah.” We also have the choice of salted or unsalted matzah, domestic or
Ancient Jewish wisdom and modern science Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Trivia, Humor & SatireFrom Within the Tents: The Sabbath Prayers, Essays by the Rabbis and Professors of Yeshiva University edited by Rabbi Daniel Z. Feldman and Dr. Stuart W. Halpern; Maggid Books, New Milford, CT; ISBN 978-1-59264-446-9 ©2014, $29.95, p. 295 plus Appendix By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California –Hermann Cohen, arguably the greatest German-Jewish philosopher of the nineteenth
Yeshiva University essays prayers of Shabbat Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish History
The House of Dreams by Kate Lord Brown, © 2016 St. Martin’s Press; ISBN 978-1-250-08453-8; 304 pages plus author’s note and acknowledgments; $25.99 By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – This historical novel paints a picture of international rescue worker Varian Frye as he smuggles artists and poets out of France in 1940 and 1941
A fictional variant on the life of Frye Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. HarrisonBy Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO — One of the most dramatic stories of the Hebrew Bible is told in the Book of Exodus; the story of the enslavement of a people and their flight to freedom. Though this epic event is recounted every year during the Passover Seder, the possibility of such an enslavement still
From the Jewish library: ‘Slave, My True Story’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories
Shmulik Paints the Town by Lisa Rose (illustrated by Catalina Echeverri); Kar-Ben Publishing; ISBN 978-1-4677-5239-8; 32 pages; $17.99. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Have you ever told your child a shaggy dog story? Like the one about the man who convinces the manager of the movie theater to let him and his dog
A shaggy dog story for Israel Independence Day Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison